US Airways announced that ACE Aviation Holdings Chairman, President and CEO Robert Milton resigned from the US board of directors, as previously announced ( ATWOnline, April 12). Also, US named MD-Revenue Management Brad Beakley as VP-reservations and inventory services and Tom Trenga as VP-revenue management.
British Airways announced a "radical shakeup" in its short-haul fare structure in an apparent attempt to stay competitive with LCCs such as Ryanair and easyJet. One-way fares for flights within the UK and Europe were reduced by up to 50% to more than 65 destinations. Prices start at £29 ($51.76) and BA will allow travelers to change their flights up to midnight on the day prior to departure for £30. "This is not a short-term gimmick but a long-term commitment to our millions of customers to offer irresistible low fares every day of the year.
Galileo International announced the signing of a five-year, full-content enterprise agreement with US Airways. Inventory includes services operated by America West Airlines.
Latin American Airline Assn. (AITAL) has changed its name to ALTA (Asociacion Latinoamericana de Transport Aereo) to reflect its expanding role in representing all of the region's carriers, not simply those that fly internationally, according to Executive Director Alex de Gunten, who met with ATWOnline yesterday in Washington. ALTA's mission also is changing, he explained. In the past, the association was "very focused" on regulatory and governmental issues. These are still important, but ALTA is moving aggressively to help members with commercial concerns.
Olympic Airlines Chairman Petros Papageorgiou resigned and will be replaced by Elias Karatzalis, an attorney and Olympic board member, according to a statement from the Greek Transport Ministry cited by Reuters. Papageorgiou was appointed in March 2004 but opted to leave because he opposed the Greek government's plans for Olympic, according to the report.
Connexion by Boeing said that an independent survey conducted by Burke Research on behalf of the broadand Internet provider showed that "83% of those surveyed said that the availability of Connexion by Boeing service will have an impact on future travel plans and their choice of airline carrier while 92% said they plan to use the service on a future flight and would recommend Connexion to others." The study included responses from more than 3,200 participants. Connexion currently is available on 10 airlines operating 180 routes daily.
Precision Conversions signed a deal with Cygnus Air of Spain for one 757-200 freighter conversion plus one option. The aircraft will enter the conversion process in July. Cygnus provides cargo services to Iberia with three DC-8s. Precision also will convert two 757s to freighters under an agreement with Babcock & Brown Aircraft Management. The contract calls for "multiple options" on future 757-200 conversions, Precision said. Operators for the aircraft were not disclosed.
American Eagle will operate six-times-weekly New York LaGuardia-Des Moines service from June 15 aboard an Embraer 135. The carrier flew 749.4 million RPMs in March, a 15.7% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity rose 9% to 1.01 billion ASMs and load factor improved 4.3 points to 74.1%.
Japan Airlines, which has been subject to scrutiny following several safety-related issues, announced the establishment of a 622-sq.-m., ¥180 million ($1.5 million) Safety Development Center at Tokyo Haneda. The center will open April 24 and feature exhibits, items and documentation related to past incidents and accidents. Separately, JAL and Hainan Airlines will expand their codeshare agreement to include Hainan's daily flights from Beijing to Kunming and Xian.
Iberia Cargo signed a contract to be handled by Worldwide Flight Services in Building 550 at London Heathrow, which WFS took over from United Airlines in 2005. WFS also acquired UA's third-party handling contracts. This marks the first time Iberia Cargo awarded a contract to WFS directly at Heathrow.
AirTran flew 1.21 billion RPMs in March, a 23.6% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity rose 22.4% to 1.55 billion ASMs, lifting load factor 0.7 point to 78.1%. Austrian Airlines Group said March RPKs grew 12.2% to 1.8 billion. ASKs rose 11.4% to 2.4 billion, resulting in a 0.5-point gain in load factor to 72.0%.
CAAC and the National Development and Reform Commission announced an increase in fuel surcharges on domestic routes of less than 800 km. to CNY30 ($3.74) from CNY20 and on routes greater than 800 km. to CNY60 from CNY40. Increases went into effect April 10 and will last until Oct. 10.
Starman Bros. Auctions was awarded the exclusive right to liquidate all of Independence Air's inventory. The auction is set for April 21-22 and 27-28 at Washington Dulles.
United Airlines appointed Sean Donohue to the new position of VP-customer experience. Donohue most recently was VP-operational services for United Express and Ted. US National Transportation Safety Board Member Ellen Engleman Conners announced this week that she intends to leave NTSB on May 31, 19 months before her term expires. She joined the board in March 2003 and served a two-year term as chairman. She was renominated to the post in 2005 but Congress did not act and the nomination lapsed.
British Airways is increasing its fuel surcharge on tickets sold and issued in the UK to £35 ($61.65) per sector from £30 on its long-haul flights. The short-haul surcharge remains unchanged at £8 per sector. "Our annual fuel bill for 2005/2006 is expected to be some £1.6 billion. We estimated previously that this would rise by £400million in 2006/2007 but at these prices [above $70 a barrel], we would now expect this year's fuel bill to be £600 million higher at £2.2 billion," Commercial Director Martin George said.
Embraer Aircraft Maintenance Services opened a 78,000-sq.-ft. hangar last week in Nashville. The facility will provide full-service MRO and create 165 new jobs. It consists of production shops, support offices and a three-bay hangar large enough to accommodate three Embraer 195s. Operations will begin next month.
Air Canada flew 3.75 billion RPMs in March, a 3.8% increase from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 1.7% to 4.61 billion ASMs and load factor went up 1.6 points to 81.4%. Air Canada Jazz traffic grew 88.8% to 304 million RPMs against a 84.5% hike in ASMs to 417 million, raising load factor 1.7 points to 72.9%. Gol flew 1.04 billion RPKs in March, a 49.6% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity rose 57.3% to 1.51 billion ASKs, dropping load factor 3.6 points to 68.8%.
Indian government announced yesterday the signing of a memorandum of agreement with the US providing for FAA assistance "in developing and modernizing civil aviation information in managerial, operation and technical areas."
The Delta Master Executive Council of the Air Line Pilots Assn. will meet today to receive a "comprehensive briefing" on the tentative agreement reached by airline and union negotiators last Friday. The MEC must approve the deal before it is submitted to members for a ratification vote. To date, the union has declined to provide terms of the accord even to members, but it did say yesterday that the $280-$290 million concession figure reported by The Wall Street Journal ( ATWOnline, April 18) is "not accurate."
